Murdoch plans to work with hardware and software providers to reach his goals

Print magazines and newspapers are
fighting a battle today against free content that is readily
available online and the need to charge for their content. Many in
the newspaper industry say that quality content is not cheap and that
it shouldn't be offered for free.

One of the loudest voices in
the newspaper world is News Corp's Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch said
Wednesday that, "We intend to charge for all our news websites.
We will go down in journalism history as either the seminal moment
when the industry came back from the internet abyss or this century's
version of into the valley of death, rode the six hundred."

Murdoch
says that the entity that is able to find a new
method of recouping the cost of producing content will not only
see its own profits soar, but will allow the entire industry to
profit as well.

Murdoch said, "The digital revolution has
opened up many new and inexpensive methods of distribution but it has
NOT made content free."

The Examiner reports that
Murdoch is not looking for a White House commission or changes in
copyright law to rescue the ailing print publication industry. It
seems that Murdoch has a decent base to build a new business model
on. He points out that since his company bought the Wall Street
Journal, the publication has expanded both print and online
subscriptions, showing that there is still an audience that is
willing to pay for content.

The WSJ is the only U.S.
paper according to Murdoch that has been able to grow online and
print business during the recession. Murdoch is looking to more than
simply charging people to read online content as a way to boost
profits. He said, "Right now we're working with software,
hardware, and other publishers within the industry to develop a model
that works for consumer. Beyond the economics, it is crucial we
maintain a direct relationship with our customers."

Part
of this plan is the introduction of an eReader that could possibly be
sold along with a subscription based on contract of a specific length
in a similar fashion to how mobile phones are sold. The idea of
charging for content isn't a new thought for Murdoch; he has called
for all newspapers
to charge for content before. There are twinges of Murdoch trying
to make nice with readers though, perhaps he took Google's Eric
Schmidt's advice when Schmidt
said don't "piss off" readers.

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This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

Seriously. They all offer the same AP rehash on almost every site. Only when you go to local news do you find any different content and that isn't all the time.

If Murdoch intends to start charging for all his online news properties, he really has his hands full. I do visit Fox's website (and CNN's as well), along with many other news sources, and I have to say - the quality of the writing of some of the articles on both Fox's and CNN's is atrocious. I don't think a day goes by where I read an article and go "What?," several times in the article and have to re-read just to begin to make sense of it all.

If they actually hired writers who could make coherent sense, or rely on half-blown, half-polished AP articles it would go a long way towards making it a more pleasant reading experience.

If this fool *really* wants us to pay for it, then he darned well better up the bar considerably. As is, online content on some of these major news websites have a long way to go. Sure, there are some people who could give two hoots about a nice, flowing sentence and one that actually feels good to read - but many times, actually most of the time, you will find far better written pieces in print media; that is, unless you go to more obscure news-source areas of the internet.

Good luck with this, Rupert. If you simply think you can add a "pay now" button to your websites and people will gladly start shoveling money into your pants, continue taking your medication and living in your own private mental paradise.

quote: the quality of the writing of some of the articles on both Fox's and CNN's is atrocious. I don't think a day goes by where I read an article and go "What?,"

As usual. You have written very well. I didn't ask myself "what?" once while readying your post; and I agree, the news organizations you mentioned are dupes of each other only differing in the political party they favor.